Or ever cease to think upon its wrongs.

And therefore watched he, many days and years,

How he might compass his employer’s ruin,

And yet not risk his fortunes; the last spark

Of holier fire, his love for that fair girl,

That cottage-flower of purity and truth,

Margaret, the sister of his boyhood’s friend—

That spark still smouldered in some inmost nook

Of his sin-darkened bosom, for the fumes

Of thought debased, rose ever, like a smoke,